年齢
ねんれい · nenrei · JLPT N3 · noun
age
🎂 年齢 = year + age: how many years of age you have
年 (nen) means year, and 齢 (rei) means age, as in 高齢 (kōrei, old age). The left side of 齢 is 歯 (tooth), since a horse's age was once read from its teeth. Count the years and you have the age.
年 — grain 禾 over person 人 (oracle bone)
Originally a pictograph of a person carrying a bundle of harvested grain on their back, representing the yearly grain harvest. Because harvests came once a year, the character shifted from meaning 'harvest' to meaning 'year.' The modern form 年 obscures the original 禾 (grain) + 人 (person) structure.